Red String of Fate
by kawaiichoconeko
Summary: POST Elder Tale: It's cold and Shiroe, or now in the real world, Shirogane Kei reminisces on his Elder Tale days. There's a hole in his heart. His guild was long gone...or so he thought. Who is this Hanekura girl and what if the world, and fate, wasn't so harsh as he thought? [Akatsuki x Shiroe]


Shirogane Kei sighed as he walked down the snow covered street. Having just returned from an engineering lecture, the 23 year old sighed at the paper assigned that was supposed to be due the following week. An entire 20 page study on an everyday tool and a theory on how he could improve it using technology. Obviously he was going to choose his computer, the object where he spent 10 years of his life with. If anything, the computer was part of his family now.

Kei sighed, wishing for once that he could've been inside Elder Tale again. Long, important papers and cold weather weren't the two best things together for the young man and even if there was a chance he'd be stuck in the game for another long period of time, he wouldn't mind that much. Although he did have to do paperwork in game too…

Suddenly, a sharp ring of a bell snapped Kei out of his thoughts. Looking to his left, a middle school stood and kids started pouring out. The man stared at the building nostalgically, remembering his carefree, 20 page essay free rose colored youth…with his computer on Elder Tale of course. He glanced at the gates and noticed a short…woman? Girl? He couldn't tell. She wasn't wearing a uniform which meant she had to be out of high school and in college or older…right? Her face was covered by a purple muffler, a shade that perfectly matched her mesmerizing purple eyes. He wanted to believe that she wasn't illegally skipping school, but her height convinced him otherwise and he had a sneaking suspicion that she was truanting. Just as the glasses man decided to confront the little girl, another boy with spiky orange hair ran toward her, smiling.

"Thanks for waiting Hanekura-san!" he shouted, clearly excited, "Why aren't you in your school uniform? Did you have a day off today?"

Kei stood behind a few feet, feeling guilty, but incredibly curious at the same time. The girl's orange jacket covered her petit body and she pulled the hood over her head, hiding her purple bangs and almost covered her eyes.

"Did you want to ask me something, Yamashita-san?" asked the girl, changing the subject. Years ago, Kei would've done the exact same thing to avoid questioning on his social life.

The orange head became nervous. "U-um, Hanekura-san," stuttered the middle schooler. Oh no, thought Kei. He had walked into an after school confession. "I know this is sudden, but…Please go out with me!" the boy confessed. Hanekura looked taken aback and nearly fell over. The way her eyes widened reminded Kei of someone. Why did it all look so familiar?

Yamashita looked at her, confused by her silence.

"Yamashita-san…" started Hanekura, "I'm sorry. You're a really kind person, but the thing is… _I'm in college_." The last part came out as a whisper but both males heard it and Kei nearly yelped in surprise.

"Y-you're kidding right?" asked Yamashita, "You're so _short_! You can't be in college!" Hanekura glared at him. Yes it had surprised her too and gave her a sickening feeling that a middle schooler had just confessed to her. But not only that, she felt annoyed and helpless.

The purple haired girl couldn't stand the atmosphere anymore and decided to make a run for it, leaving Yamashita shouting after her. Kei thought that it was almost like a delicate flower, withering just because somebody did something stupid. And it was as if on impulse that Kei ran after her. Not as Shirogane Kei, but as Shiroe, the villain in glasses.

Everything about that Hanekura girl was too familiar. The way she looked, the way she gripped onto the sides of her jacket when she was feeling frustrated, the way she spoke, and her tone, sullen and serious. The way her eyes narrowed when she was being provoked.

The chances were slim, even close to impossible, but there was a chance. A chance that Hanekura was Akatsuki and Kei did not want to miss that chance.

Finally catching up to the girl who stopped at the side of a bookstore, Kei stopped, panting. Puffy white clouds came out of his mouth as he breathed in and out heavily. He surely needed more exercise. Facing up, Hanekura looked up at him curiously, yet alert. Kei stared back into her violet orbs and finally found his voice.

"Akatsuki?" he asked tentatively. The name broke the silence and hung over the already thick and heavy atmosphere. After no reply from the young woman, Kei bowed. "I'm sorry! I thought that you were someone e-!"

"My lord?"

Kei gasped and turned his attention toward the woman once more only to find Hanekura equally surprised.

"W-Why….wh-what?" mumbled the girl to herself, baffled. She turned toward him again. "My….lord…?"

"Kei," corrected the man, smiling with relief, "Shirogane Kei." Hanekura nodded slowly, absorbing the information that came so suddenly.

"H-Hanekura Sh-Shizuka," mumbled the former assassin, fiddling with the hem of her jacket, "My- errr…Kei-san, how have you been doing?" It felt strange, calling each other by their real names, let alone their first, but at the same time, it was refreshing. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted off of their shoulders.

Kei decided not to bring the topic of the confession up (or his evesdropping), but instead motioned her to walk inside the bookstore, where it was warm and cozy. The two sat down at a small, round, and wooden table and took their heavy winter jackets off.

"My studies have been busy," sighed Kei. Yet, he was still smiling. "You?" he asked.

"It's pretty much the same as you," mumbled Shizuka. It was still very awkward for her and a heavy silence filled over them. Suddenly, the petit woman hastily lifted her brown bag onto the table. With a disturbing thud, she searched through papers and books. Kei watched her curiously.

"These," she declared, a bit hesitant. In her hands were two green tickets for a gaming convention the following week, the day before his paper was due. "My sister...um…won them at some kind of lottery. She didn't want them so she told me to invite someone else with me…" Once she finished her offer, Shizuka looked down nervously, face as red as a tomato. It isn't a date, she thought sternly.

"Really?" asked Kei, smiling. Oh how that smile made the assassin's heart skip a beat. "Thanks for the offer, I'd love to." Suddenly, it felt so casual. A conversation all about Elder Tale and the games the two played after that. Something that only the two could understand about. Something in which they could connect.

Oh how kind fate was. Kei's paper could wait.


End file.
